Phone interview

In about 30 minutes, I have a phone interview. Four people (all of whom I know) will be on the interview, and I am so nervous I am shaking and feel like crying. There are four positions available and 12 phone interviews, so 1/3 of the people being interviewed will likely get the job, which means the odds are good (for everyone, not just me). Even if I don't get it, it's not the end of the world, but I worry about these 4 people's perception of me if I bomb it...

I try to look at the bright side... interviews are hard enough, but when they add extra people it drives my anxiety up.

The good thing about the phone- they won't be able to tell how uncomfortable you are (body language). I have a phone phobia, what I do is I'll write down what I am going to say on paper. Then I read it off the paper. Otherwise I can get tongue tied.

In about 30 minutes, I have a phone interview. Four people (all of whom I know) will be on the interview, and I am so nervous I am shaking and feel like crying. There are four positions available and 12 phone interviews, so 1/3 of the people being interviewed will likely get the job, which means the odds are good (for everyone, not just me). Even if I don't get it, it's not the end of the world, but I worry about these 4 people's perception of me if I bomb it...

I hope everything goes well for you. I have had a phone interview before and I felt the exact same way you just described. During the phone interview I closed my eyes and, for whatever reason, it eased my situation a little bit. Just enough so I could do a proper interview. Best of luck to you.

It went better than I expected. They only asked 3 questions (with some follow-ups) and allowed me to ask questions--I had two. One question I asked was what they were looking for in someone in this position, and the senior-most person turned the question around and asked me what I thought they were looking for. I apparently responded well, because one of the other interviewers said she was going to steal my answer.
I just scheduled the second interview for next week, which is nice because I will have more time to prepare, but also more time to worry...

Congrats on getting the second interview. One word of advice from my brother was to also always have questions when asked, do you have any questions?

He told me to ask them something about themselves, so the spot goes on them. And that usually, they are happy to talk some. I am always unsure of what to ask- I had a really simple interview for retail so I asked, "What is your favorite thing about your job" and also how long they have all worked there.

Update:
The face-to-face interview went okay. I didn't feel prepared for what they asked, but I think I did an okay job, considering. All four people who were conducting the interview smiled a lot (the senior-most person smile A LOT). The thing I think I did worst (or not the best, at least) was answering the question, "With a pool of qualified applicants, what makes you stand out?" I have a really hard time talking myself up, so I stumbled with that a bit. I will know for sure whether I got it or not by the end of this week. I know one other person who interviewed, and she's a really good candidate. 28 people applied, there were 12 phone interviews, and I'm not sure how many face-to-face interviews, but I was at least in the top half of the applicant pool, so that's kind of nice.

Update:
The face-to-face interview went okay. I didn't feel prepared for what they asked, but I think I did an okay job, considering. All four people who were conducting the interview smiled a lot (the senior-most person smile A LOT). The thing I think I did worst (or not the best, at least) was answering the question, "With a pool of qualified applicants, what makes you stand out?" I have a really hard time talking myself up, so I stumbled with that a bit. I will know for sure whether I got it or not by the end of this week. I know one other person who interviewed, and she's a really good candidate. 28 people applied, there were 12 phone interviews, and I'm not sure how many face-to-face interviews, but I was at least in the top half of the applicant pool, so that's kind of nice.

Well done, lilmutegirl! So far so good. Good luck for the end of the week.
Sounds like you have a pretty good chance if you are in the top half of applicants.

I found out today that I did not get the job. One of the interviewers (with whom I graduated from high school) came in to talk to me at work. He encouraged me to continue trying to get the position. He pointed out good parts of my interview and made some suggestions on what to work on. I cried on and off for the next 3 hours. I didn't expect to react like that. I realized that I feel almost worse about myself because people keep telling me how awesome I am at my job, but I have yet to secure full-time employment (I have applied 4 times for full-time positions in the past 3 years; working for this organization for 5, and have had 2 promotions). I just finished an advanced degree required for more advancement.

I applied for another job (the full-time equivalent of what I currently do part-time). I had a phone interview a couple of weeks ago and haven't heard back (not even a rejection). I talked to a coworker today who is at a different location, who has some inside connections. He informed me that they did the face-to-face interviews last week, which means I didn't get one. It's pretty disappointing. There are more job openings coming up, but it is hard to get excited about trying again...I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from coworkers, both from people with whom I work directly, as well as other people (including the hiring manager for this position), so I'm somewhat perplexed.

Assuming you're like me and worry about how you'll sound, you probably spit out your words pretty fast without truly reflecting on your words before you say them. I find it helpful to 1) make sure you're breathing normally 2) give yourself time to think and 3) pause during your speaking in order to give yourself that time to think.

There's really no rush to get your words out, and I find that this helps me speak more intelligently. Many of the most articulate speakers take time with their words.

Planning (memorizing bullet points for answers to questions you know they'll ask or are likely to) for traditional and behavioral interview questions both should also help. Plenty of info on google related to that.

I hope you keep trying! When things like that happen (don't get the job, or in my experience, don't get the house to rent), I like to think of it as maybe a bullet dodged. Like there's a reason you didn't get it, and something better will come up and you'll get what's perfect for you. I guess people may think this is a really flighty way of thinking, but things have their way of working out, just ride the wave Much love to you --

I hope you learn how to bounce back. I also had a phone interview before and unfortunately, I didn't get the job but I found a better one after that. There is no off button for our anxiety but we can choose whether to accept it or not.